Despite all the action and intrigue that is found everyday in Las Vegas, Hoover Dam tours are still one of the more popular tours found in the city. For those that need a break and wish to see one of the greatest natural landmarks in America, there are plenty of Hoover Dam tours from Las Vegas ready to whisk away visitors the 30 miles from the city limits, through Henderson and passed Lake Mead, before ending at the main event: the Hoover Dam. Whether it is your first trip to Vegas or your thousandth, Hoover Dam tours from Las Vegas are a welcome addition to any trip. Along with the iconic images of the Bellagio Fountains, the lights on the Strip, and the great shows, the Hoover Dam is one of the most recognizable tourist symbols around Las Vegas.

Disrupting the Colorado River along the border between Nevada and Arizona, construction of the Hoover Dam began in 1931. Named after President Herbert Hoover, the past 75 years have seen the dam become one of the most celebrated monuments in the area. Combine that with the scenic Lake Mead (not a lake, so much, as a giant reservoir created by the installation of the dam), and a Las Vegas Hoover Dam tour will satisfy nature lovers from all the country.

The contrast between civilization and nature is one of the main talking points of any of the Hoover Dam tours from Las Vegas. Bright lights and giant hotels fade immediately into the dusty brown of the desert before the architectural wonder of the Dam rises from the Colorado River. By the time that the last trace of the MGM Grand and the Excalibur have disappeared behind you, it's hard to imagine there's much to find in the barren hills surrounding Las Vegas.

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There are quite a few operators that offer Las Vegas Hoover Dam tours. If you are really the adventurous type, you can see the Hoover Dam by kayak. But most available tours will pick you up at your hotel on the strip, as far north as the Stratosphere, and shuttle you to the Arizona border. The tour is usually an all-day event, with the average trip lasting upwards of six hours, though if you can't pull yourself away from the casino floor for that long there is a Las Vegas Hoover Dam Express tour that can get you there much sooner.

The most popular of the Hoover Dam tours from Las Vegas is the Discovery tour. Not only does the bus come straight to your hotel room, you get an in-depth tour of the surrounding areas, the history of the Hoover Dam itself, right down into the main generator room - not to mention a couple of decent side trips to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory and the Botanical Cactus Gardens.

Perhaps you don't want to hang around with a bunch of strangers while touring the Hoover Dam bridge. In that case, the dam runs its own tours daily, or you can just wander around the dam as you please - not everyone needs a full two hours to learn everything there is to know about the ins and outs of how the dam was constructed.

Though it's hard to leave Las Vegas for long, a Hoover Dam tour is a good day trip, especially for light gamblers who need something else to occupy their time, or those visiting the area with their families.